Sorabji: Toccata Terza

Khaikosru Sorabji (1892-1988) is one of the most enigmatic and controversial 20-th century composers. Largely self-taught he chose his own way, never fitting into any school or movement, his style is highly idiosyncratic, inspired by late-romantics like Busoni and Szymanowski. Characteristic for his piano music are the enormous proportions and textural density of his works, some of them lasting several hours in performance, taxing the performer and audience to the utmost. * Sorabji shared with several composers of the older generation (particularly Busoni and Reger) a deep admiration for the music of J.S. Bach and an interest in the revival of Baroque forms by adopting traditional compositional procedures such as the variation (passacaglia, chorale prelude) and the fugue. Both Busoni and Sorabji wrote their own Toccatas, innovative examples of multisectional works. * This new recording present Sorabji's Toccata Terza. It consists of ten movements representing Sorabji's favourite genres: forms of Baroque inspiration (chorale prelude, passacaglia, fugue), free fantasies and fast sections in perpetual motion style, and his idiosyncratic slow movements. It is therefore an admirable synthesis of Sorabji's style, distilled into a relatively compact format. * Spanish pianist Abel Sanchez-Aguilera is one of Spain's foremost interpreters of 20th century music. He won First prize in the 2015 Scriabin Competition in Salzburg. He has given performances of Scriabin's complete sonatas, the Spanish premiere of Sorabji's Toccata seconda and the first performance of this work in the UK since its premiere in 1936. He has prepared critical editions of several of Sorabji's unpublished manuscripts (Piano Symphonies nos. 0, 1 and 3). His previous recording for Piano Classics of Sorabji's Toccata Seconda (PCL 10255) received several 5-star reviews in the international press.

Kaikhoshru Sorabji (1892-1988)

May 2024